The Girl With the Broken Crown
by Kara Tezla
Summary: SEQUEL TO RYA: DAUGHTER OF THE KING In her father's will, he demands the domination of the Eastern lands. The Council demands she finds a husband. Thousands of soldiers deserted after the battle. My father is haunting me beyond the grave... she said.
1. A Bad Start

**The Girl with the Broken Crown**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Eragon or Eldest or the newest book that hasn't been published yet. I wish I did, but we all know that it belongs Christopher Paolini--the so-called genius.**

**Summary: Rya's back and she has her father's mess to clean up now. Even worse, she has to find a husband of some royal bloodline, train with the elves, and hunt down all the Ra'zac all before the end of the year... along with ruling what's left of Alaglaesia...**

**Author's Note: Yes, yes, it's time for the sequel. If this is your first time picking up Rya's story, I encourage you to read the first part first. Or not. Whatever floats your boat, I say. I enjoy reviews if you leave them, and constructive criticism is always nice. I hope you like.**

Chatper One: A Bad Start

"No! No, no, no, no... over _there_... yeah, there... excellent," Rya commanded. Allaster set down the giant statue of Galbatorix that had once been in the courtyard. "Thanks Allaster,"

_Hey, no problem, as long as I get a piece of the action._ Allaster said, gliding over behind his rider.

"Eragon! Murtagh! Get over here!"

The brothers jogged over a couple minutes later. "It's ready?" Eragon asked.

"Yup," Rya answered with a grin. "And you can have the first shot."

Murtagh threw Rya a dirty look as Eragon pointed at Galbatorix's head and shouted something in the ancient language. The head exploded in a shower of marble splinters. Allaster snorted in amusement.

"_Now_ it's your turn Murtagh,"

Doing a small spin move, he mumbled something as his hand moved past the statue, cutting it in half at the torso. Of course, it didn't topple.

"Smooth," Eragon joked.

_Would you like to do the honors, Allaster?_

_Very much so... thank you, Rya,_

With that, Allaster launched off the ground, moving quickly toward the statue. One swift leap and he overtook the upper half of Galbatorix's body, crushing it, causing Murtagh to whoop and Eragon to whistle loudly.

"Your turn," Eragon smiled.

"Fine," Rya cleared her throat. "Jierda!" she shouted.

The legs of the statue exploded in a bright flash, similar to what Eragon did to the head. Large pieces flew past them and kicked up dust. The three coughed, shielding their eyes, only to be quickly followed by cheering from the three riders and a joyful roar from Allaster. The old marble was scattered about the plain, and dust still drifted with the wind to the east.

"What's with all the ruckus out there! I'm trying to sleep!" someone shouted from the castle walls. It was the new Army General, a previous member of the Varden; Jormundur was poking his head out of the battlements. Ever since Galbatorix had fallen to his death during the Great Battle less than a month before, the Varden had been invited personally by Rya to come and stay in Uru'baen. The dwarves, of course, refused, and most of them returned to what was left of Tronjheim and Farthen Dur. Eragon promised to come to Tronjheim and repair Isidar Mithrim as soon as he could. He could have easily left now, but he choose to stay awhile with his brother and new-found friends.

"Sorry, Jormundur! We'll be quieter now that we're done!" Rya called back to the battlement-tower balcony that her General was leaning over. She knew that he disapproved of her carelessness and her being crowned as such a young age, but he had no say in the matter, or so everyone thought.

Murtagh and Eragon laughed in unison. "He's a little grumpy today, isn't he?" Eragon noted, grinning.

"I don't ever believe I've seen him crack a smile,"

"Me neither," Murtagh commented.

The threesome headed back toward the gates of the wall that surrounded Uru'baen. Allaster took off into the air and flew over the city to the other side, where the dragon-holds were located. It was almost noon, which meant that Tristan, Rya's old friend, would be bringing in some kind of food for the four dragons to eat.

Rya walked between the two brothers in silence as the boys chatted about random things. In the past few weeks, she noticed the air in the castle had seemed to lift, and the feeling of stress and worry was gone. No one was really old enough to experience this, so everyone in the city expressed their feelings differently. Rya, even though the heavy burden of pleasing her father was gone, she felt sad, as if a giant part of her life was gone, which was true.

She was seemingly pushed into the world less than a year ago; beginning with the birth of her dragon, the training, the battles, then the death of her father, leaving her the rightful heir to the throne of Alaglaesia. She almost felt as if the problem that she was facing was like a house. Standing on the outside, you could only see one or two walls; not really all that complicated. But on the inside, which, when you entered and got the full concept of what it was like, turned out to be far more detailed and elaborate than you had expected, and now your already in over your head.

Or maybe it was the other way around. It seemed uncomplicated because it wasn't complicated at all. Rya shook her head. She was overreacting to this whole thing.

"What was that for?" Eragon asked, bumping against her with his shoulder.

"What was what for?"

"You shook your head."

"I did? Oh, I'm just hungry."

"Mmm, me too," Murtagh interrupted in a dreamy tone. All three laughed, entering the gates to the city.

The poverty that you used to see coming in was now clearing up, and more people were smiling and interacting with each other. She got a lot of waves and nods in her directions, and even some smiles and "long live the queen" shouts. Too bad the guard that was approaching them hastily couldn't be smiling.

"Your highness," the soldier said, bowing deeply. He was out of breath, and could barely get the words out. "The Council would like to have a word with you immediately, sir--ma'am."

Rya would have laughed, but at hearing "The Council" her heart sunk. That was another one of the major problems her father had left her. "What? Why? Did they say why?"

"They did not tell me the reason, ma'am, no."

Sighing, Rya's face crunched into a snarl, and then she forced a small smile. "Fine, I guess I have no choice then; thank you for relaying the message."

The soldier nodded and ran off.

"What was that all about?" Eragon asked, a look of troubled curiosity crossing his face.

"I don't know, but you guys better go get lunch. I'll catch up with you as soon as possible."

**So there you go. Hopefully all you who reviewed _Rya: Daughter of the King_ will come back for this story too. I can hope! Reviews are wonderful! Thank you!**


	2. The Council's Ruling

**The Girl with the Broken Crown**

**Disclaimer: Meh. I'm too lazy to type it again. Take a look in the first chapter.**

**Summary: Rya's back and she has her father's mess to clean up. Even worse, she has to find a husband of some royal bloodline, train with the elves, and hunt down all the Ra'zac... all before the end of the year. Not to mention old friends, mysterious, handsome young men, and an awry spirit... along with all of Alaglaesia to rule...**

**Author's Note: My computer crashed! Stupid COMPY! lovingly kicks computer And it's been taking me a while to recover all my stories from online... and searching for all the floppy disks I've saved stuff on lying around. So, this will be getting faster as I get all my sobs stories back online. **

Chapter Two: The Ruling of the Council

"_Ham_," Murtagh said, his eyes full of greedy hunger. Eragon licked his lips as the platter of sliced ham was placed in the center of the table, amongst the various fruits and vegetables. Half the potatoes had already been devoured, along with some of the bread-stuffing and cranberries.

As Eragon reached in and dragged a giant slab of ham onto his plate, Murtagh spoke. "You know, this wouldn't be right without waiting for Rya."

"Murtagh," Eragon said, holding a knife in one hand and a fork in the other. "You're right. Real gentlemen would wait for a lady."

Murtagh smiled at his brother. "Yeah,"

After a couple of minutes of awkward silence, Eragon stabbed the slice of meat with his fork and started to cut. Murtagh looked on in confusion, then in horror as his brother stuffed a giant chunk in his mouth.

"Eragon!" he shouted.

"What?" Eragon asked through his mouthful of ham.

"What? What do you think you're doing?"

Eragon swallowed, "I said _real gentlemen_ would wait for a lady." He thrust his knife through another piece of ham. "I thought about it, and I think being hungry trumps being a gentlemen any day." He inserted the ham in his mouth and pushed it to the side to talk again. "Besides, Murtagh, Rya's like our sister. She would understand."

Glancing from his brother to the food on the table, Murtagh shrugged and reached for his own slice of steaming meat.

**::alagaësia::**

"Er... can you repeat that?" Rya asked meekly, her hands going cold. "I think I might be hearing things.

"By your father's will, you are to be married three fortnights after you accept the crown. Hence, you must find a suitable bachelor of a high status within five weeks. The last week we will arrange the marriage." the grey-haired man read from a yellowed scroll. Rya felt her face flush.

"That's... that's... I can't do that!" she exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

"You must, or you forfeit the crown, and _we_ will find a suitable ruler who _will_ follow the rules."

Rya closed her eyes, sinking lazily back into her seat.

"There's something else," the man said, his voice dipping into a tone of light happiness.

"What?" Rya asked, afraid of what the answer might be.

"The last request of your father," he said, drawing a envelope the same shade as the parchment scroll out from under the hardwood table. He handed it to his squire, who brought it over to Rya. She stood to take it.

Pulling herself to her full height, she managed to say, "I will consider these terms."

The man nodded as she left the council office.

Once she was out of hearing range and the heavy wooden door was shut, she swore explosively, turning to punch the wall. After the anger had passed, she twisted so that her back was against the wall and slid down to the floor, nursing the broken skin of her knuckles.

Rya opened her hand and took a good look at the seal. It was her father's all right. Running her thumb under the paper, the old wax popped right off, leaving the letter to be opened without a problem. She carefully unfolded the aged parchment. It was her father's handwriting also.

"_My dear daughter,_" she read aloud. "_If you are reading this, then the council has pronounced my death. Do not be sad._"

Rya gave a harsh laugh. "As if," she retorted.

"_They have probably told you about the marriage law I have set. That is for your own sake. Now I have a final task to ask of you._"

Frowning, Rya squinted at the next line.

"_Conquer the eastern lands._"

"How?" she asked.

"_Conquer them in my name. You have the dragon power. The people of the north are unaccustomed to dragons._"

"Oh,"

"_Since I am no longer here, the Ra'zac will also run wild. Destroy them if you must, but be careful._"

"Great... rogue Ra'zac," she said, glancing over the rest of the letter.

"Are you _talking_ to yourself?" a male voice asked.

Rya sighed. "Tristan,"

"You were, weren't you?"

"You've got me,"

"What did you say about the Ra'zac?" he grinned. His messy brown hair looked unnatural without the usual metal collar and partial helmet. It fell haphazardly over his grey eyes.

"Nothing... just my father. Haunting me," she waved the letter lazily. The stiff parchment bent in the middle as it caught the air.

"Oh," the squire sank down the wall beside Rya. She looked at him, sighing. It was also strange seeing him out of the grey and red uniform that all the squires wore and into a loose-fitting shirt and brown pants that tied around the calves.

"Why can't anything be normal?" she asked.

"Normal?"

"Yeah," Rya stared at the paper that was pinched between her thumb and forefinger.

"Does normal have a definition?"

"I don't know. All I _do_ know is that this--" she motioned to the letter "--isn't normal."

"Can I?" he offered.

Rya handed him the yellowed parchment and waited as he read it.

"Wow..." he whispered finally.

"Tristan, I didn't know you could read."

"You do now."

Heavy footsteps could suddenly be heard down the hallway coming toward them. Both scrambled to their feet. It was Hared, one of the senior members of the Royal Council.

"Milady," he greeded with a cheshire grin. "Sir Etham commands that you start on your quest north as soon as possible."

Rya returned the smile. "And when would that be?"

"Tomorrow at the latest."

**Gursh!!! I am SO sorry this took me forever!! I had such horrible writer's block for this story... then I thought I had it... then I couldn't find the floppy. Oh well. It's up now. I'm going to try to update at least every week. I've been working on a book, but stupid WRITER'S BLOCK has hit me there now. It's horrible.**

**To my reviewers! Since it's only the second chapter, I'm just going to list you. No individuals right now, because they'd be all "THANK YOU SO MUCH! I LOVE YOU GUYS!" and writing that seven or eight times is kind of boring. So, thank you SO much to: Armaris, KilalaBigKitty, save the pandas, HahynGirl, Sahar a.k.a Tails, WeepingWillowleaf ((and, hey, thanks! I don't mind being scrutinized, it helps!)), and Deer-Shifter!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!**


	3. Emidite

**The Girl with the Broken Crown**

**Disclaimer: Meh. I'm too lazy to type it again. Take a look in the first chapter.**

**Summary: Rya's back and she has her father's mess to clean up. Even worse, she has to find a husband of some royal bloodline, train with the elves, and hunt down all the Ra'zac... all before the end of the year. Not to mention old friends, mysterious, handsome young men, and an awry spirit... along with all of Alagaësia to rule...**

**Author's Note: Yay! Update! Thank you to Weeping Willowleaf for reviewing! **

Chapter Three: Emidite

Several hours later, Rya could be found in her chambers. The servants were busy buckling armor on her, even though she insisted that she didn't need any help. She had found Eragon and Murtagh eating their cares away in the dining hall, both of them had nearly finished half of the stuffed pig and most of the bread and vegetables. Of course, they scurried off to get their armor fitted too after Rya spoke her mind about gluttony.

It wasn't long before she sent out the command to saddle the horses. Even though the dragons were coming along, several knights and appointed generals would be traveling with them who had no such thing. Therefore, Rya decided it would be more convenient to travel on horses and let the dragons bring up the rear from the sky, because it was a little more awkward for them to be walking.

Nobody knew how long it would get to reach the nearest civilization to the east past the city of Hedarth and the Eda River, since nobody had traveled that far since her father was a boy. It was strange and made Rya nervous. Deaux, the current mapmaker and historian was considerably young and insisted that he come along, and Rya wasn't about to object.

There were records of the eastern lands, but none of it made any sense. They spoke of creatures that were unimaginable to the human mind. The records also explained the eerie culture of the people and their traits. All of it seemed over exaggerated and none of the three dragonriders took it seriously. Even Deaux thought that it might be a little misrepresentative of the actual thing.

Several people were on the list that Rya had conjured up to come along. This list left the highest command in the castle to the position of Steward. Jörmundur.

"But, Milady, I must--"

"No, Jörmundur, you must stay here. You're the man I have trusted to look after the Empire while I am away. You should be grateful." Rya never turned too look at the general because she was hiding a twisted smile on her face. She loved being able to boss around people that were older than she was.

"But I am! I am very... glad that you have chosen me, but should I be going with you?"

"Your duty is here." Rya stated, turning abruptly once she was through the door. With a smirk, she snapped her fingers to the guards and they shut it as she walked away.

**::alagaësia::**

Over all, Rya was a little surprise at the turnout. Her horse, Corweth, shifted uneasily beneath her as a red dragon skirted the outer-wall of the city. A few other horses whinnied nervously.

"Rya!" Murtagh called as Thorn's wings beat up the loose dirt around the animals.

"What?" Rya shouted back.

He tossed a scroll to her that was tied with a black ribbon. "Don't forget that,"

Rya looked at the thick paper for a second before looking back up at him. "What is it?"

"I don't know exactly. Etham told me to give it to you and told me to tell you that... well, I'm not going to repeat it. In short, he isn't very happy."

A small smile crossed Rya's face. "Just make sure you're back out here by the time we leave, Murtagh."

He nodded and mentally urged Thorn into the air. Just as he disappeared from view, Rya shoved the scroll into one of the saddlebags. A group of knights on horses exited the gates in a line. They all wore the same dark red leather armor that was normal for knights when they traveled on horses. Rya was happy to notice that Tristan was with them.

"Milady," the first knight said, bowing a little, not that it was easy bowing on a horse.

Rya nodded back.

"Deaux apologizes for the delay. He mentions on how hard it is to leave library."

"I understand the feeling," Rya laughed. "What of my two sorcerers?"

"Both Kindel and Middai have accepted your offer and are also on their way."

"Excellent." Rya glanced over the small group. Eight knights. Three squires. Three dragonriders with their dragons. Two sorcerers and a historian. And no fancy entourage. She looked at the knight who she had been talking to. "May I ask your name?"

"Sir Rymn, Milady," he smiled, "at your service."

Rya smiled back. Wisps of silvery hair reflected the light as they poked out from beneath his helmet that was left unpolished because of the sun. He seemed nice, but she didn't quite understand why her father chose him to be head of the knights. Rymn was muscular and middle aged, but he seemed too gentle for her father's tastes. Then again, she had just met him, so who was she to judge?

Then there were the sorcerers. Siblings, but not twins, although it might seem like it at times. Kindel and Middai were the highest ranking magic users in the castle that Rya could get her hands on at the moment. At this moment in time, they were on horses, arguing as usual. Kindel, the white haired and older of the two, rode a black horse, and Middai, who had pitch black hair, rode a white horse. It almost looked like it was arranged that way.

"Speak of the devil," one of the knights commented softly.

"Or devils," another chuckled.

As soon as the two sorcerers noticed that everyone was staring at them, they shut up immediately.

"Lady Rya!" gushed Middai, his grey cloak gently moving in the wind. "Thank you--"

"Thank you for inviting us!" Kindel finished in unison with his brother. His hair was cropped around his ears and flew into his face as he shot a reproachful glare at his brother.

Rya laughed as she sensed them talking to each other with their minds. "I would have it no other way." she told them.

This pleased the brothers.

_I hope they don't do that the whole way_. Eragon's echoed through Rya's mind. She looked up to see Deaux coming out of the gates accompanied by Eragon and Murtagh.

_You said it. _Rya countered with a small sigh.

_If they do I'm going to have to teach them a lesson in brotherhood_. She saw Murtagh's expression drop as he looked at his own brother. Eragon smiled innocently.

"Are the dragons prepared, Murtagh?" Rya asked.

"The keepers are doing so right now." Murtagh replied.

As Rya went down her mental check list, she told everybody else to do so also and make sure they weren't leaving anything behind. Soon, they were prepared to set out.

**::alagaësia::**

They were only two hours into their trip when it began to get dark. To insure that they would have water most of the time, they planned to take the route along the Beor Mountains, which meant that they had to travel southeast before they could actually go east. Rya had hoped to get to the city of Furnost before they stopped, but it looked like if they kept going, it would be dark when they arrived.

After a quick council with the rest of the group, they decided to enter the city at dawn. They stopped near a small grouping of trees to set up camp a few minutes later. As the rest of the party went to sleep, Rya took out the scroll that Etham had given her. It was small, more the size of a diploma than an actual scroll. A small bag fell out onto the ground as she unrolled the parchment and several smooth black stones fell out when it hit the dirt.

Rya reached down, picked them up, and rolled them around in her hand before turning to back to the parchment. It was an old record of trades with a note in scrawling handwriting at the bottom.

"_These rocks are worth more than your head. Do not loose them. Find more and bring them back. -Etham_." Rya read softly. She looked down into her hand at the rocks. It was then she noticed that when they moved, there was some kind of liquid that seemed to be right beneath the surface that created the effect that the surface itself was moving. Rya was almost tempted to go wake Deaux and ask him about them, but right after thought against it because it might cause some problems if they're worth as much as Rya thought they were.

On the parchment, it was a trading record between Urû'baen and several other cities that she had never heard of. Galena. Chalcum. Míca. All of the cities had sent this rock back, which seemed to be called Emidite, for other precious things, including gold, jewels, and another thing she had never heard of before. Baux Powder.

Suddenly, Rya, with a sweep of her mind, felt a pair of eyes gazing at her. She looked up to see Tristan mesmerized by the rocks in her hand.

**Deaux is pronounced De-oo, like a French name. Baux like "Bocks", Middai – "Mid-eye", Kindel – "Kin-dell", Míca – "Mick-ah", and Rymn – "Rim"**


	4. Furnost

**The Girl with the Broken Crown**

**Disclaimer: Meh. I'm too lazy to type it again. Take a look in the first chapter.**

**Summary: Rya's back and she has her father's mess to clean up. Even worse, she has to find a husband of some royal bloodline, train with the elves, and hunt down all the Ra'zac... all before the end of the year. Not to mention old friends, mysterious, handsome young men, and an awry spirit... along with all of Alagaësia to rule...**

**Author's Note: I apologize for not updating for so long. Seriously, I thought I had a chapter in my documents, but I guess I already uploaded it! Thank you so much to the people who reviewed my last chapter!**

Chapter Four: Furnost

Rya closed her hand and quickly dumped the rocks bag into the small, leather bag from whence they had come. Tristan's trance was broken almost immediately and he transferred his gaze to Rya.

"What were those?" he asked, a puzzled look crossing his face.

"Rocks," Rya answered plainly. She hoped he wouldn't ask any more questions.

"What kind of rocks?"

She gave him a look that said, it's-not-really-any-of-your-business-so-shut-up. "Emidite," she stated.

"Oh,"

"Go to sleep. We're going into the city tomorrow, and you know how tiring that can be." Rya said, changing the subject.

Tristan nodded, yawning. Rya watched as he slowly made his way over to where the knights were and laid down. She waited a couple minutes before quietly picking up the leather bag and taking out one Emidite stone. It rolled smoothly into her hand. It reminded her of the marbles one of her father's sorcerers had enchanted for her when she was little, except it wasn't perfectly round. The silvery surface seemed to draw her mind in through her eyes. An enveloping feeling suddenly overwhelmed her and she felt like she was inside the rock, looking out at her body. One thing stood out as she unconsciously let herself slip into whatever state she was in: her own eyes were without pupils... without irises even. Just glazed over so much that they were blank, white orbs inside her head.

It was then she realized what was happening. A sudden concentration of thoughts brought her jolting back into her body with a startling shout. She was surprised that nobody had woken up. Without looking at the little black stone, she shoved it back into the bag as quick as she could, laid down, and fell into a nightmarish sleep.

**::alagaësia::**

Rya scowled as Tristan waved cheerily at the people who stared at them. She was unhappy. There had been a mad scuffle as they had approached the city. The remaining soldiers guarding the windblown city had arranged themselves around the entrance as the small entourage passed through the gates. A lieutenant had scurried up with a list of deserters as Rya had ordered for immediately after the group had split to do variously assigned tasks. It had at least twenty or thirty names on it.

_And this is only one city!_ she told Allaster after reviewing the whole situation with him. _One measily city! Just think how many have deserted in Teirm or Dras-Leona? We might be looking at more than half the army, here!_

_Rya, let the council handle that problem while we're gone. _Allaster replied. _There is no way you alone could find and punish all those men._

As she made her way to the eastern gate of Furnost, people stopped and stared. Every few minutes, another knight would ride up from an alley or street. By the time they arrived at the gate, they were just waiting for Deaux, who had disappeared into the city's library.

"I think we should sent somebody to get him," prompted Rymn after they had sat for at least ten minutes.

"I think we should just leave without him." Murtagh scoffed.

"You know what _I_ think?" Rya offered. "I think all of you should shut up. This is one of the last _mapped_ cities we're going to see on this trip."

There was a moment of silence before Eragon spoke up. "Rya, we're getting funny looks. I agree with Murtagh."

"We are not going to just leave him. You two--" she pointed to the two knights nearest to her "--go down to the library and tell him that if he's not up here in five minutes, we're leaving without him." They nodded and prodded their horses forward down the slight slope of the road toward the building that was the library.

A few minutes later, they reappeared with Deaux, a bag of books on his hip and a drawn look on his face. He looked up the gentle slope at the half-sphere library as he swung himself up onto his horse.

"What took you so long?" Eragon frowned at the wiry librarian.

"They... they had some books that I wanted," Deaux muttered absently, looking off into the distance.

Eragon nodded slowly and prodded his horse forward as they small party left the city. A knight from Furnost had volunteered to accompany them on the trip around the Tüdosten Lake south of the city. Rya had graciously accepted, seeing that any help they could get from loyal soldiers would be great.

The knight led the way down the shore of the lake, also eventually skirting the small Tüdosten forest as well. By dusk, they had reached the southern end of the lake where it started the Eryn River to the ocean. Before starting east, they decided to stop and camp for the night.

"Is there anything we should be expecting when we cross the border, milady?" Rymn asked as they sat around the fire with meat bought from Furnost.

Rya looked across the fire at the knight. "_Please_ call me Rya. And, I wouldn't know. I've only heard stories about the East. The person to ask would be Deaux," she replied, looking around the circle of people. "Where is he, anyway?"

There was an awkward silence as nobody answered. Several people looked around, but nobody saw the librarian.

"I'll go find him!" Kiddel quipped loudly, scrambling to his feet and disappearing outside the circle of light from the fire.

We all looked at Maddai.

"What?" he complained.

"Aren't you going to... you know, fight over who goes?" Murtagh said, swallowing the food that was in his mouth.

"Why would I do that?" Maddai frowned.

Everyone exchanged looks as Kiddel ran back into the firelight and sat abruptly. He picked up his plate and started to eat again as if nothing had happened. The only sound was the crackling of the fire.

Less than a minute later, Deaux appeared beside his horse. He slipped a book into the saddlebag and walked over to the group, sitting in a gap. One of the knights passed him a bowl of stew. Everybody looked at the brown-haired man as he started in on his food.

"Deaux," Rya said, getting the librarian's attention. He looked up, spooning a chunk of meat into his mouth. "Do you know what we're to expect when we cross the Az Ragni?"

He nodded a little, chewing and swallowing the chunk. "I don't know much, but there are some records. What do you want to know?"

"Anything you have," Murtagh cut in.

Deaux grunted, putting his bowl down. "I'm hoping that maybe they're be a village or something before we hit the Az Ragni, because I don't have a map, and we could use a guide. And, if there isn't some kind of source, then I guess we might want to stop at Hedarth, which is about a day north of the Beor Mountains. I'm thinking that there should be somebody in Hedarth who has been at least a little further east than our maps stretch."

"Is that as far as my father's maps go? To Hedarth?" Rya asked.

"Yes, that's why I stopped at the library in Furnost. You never know what these small cities hid from your father." The young librarian sighed. "They still might not be totally trusting of their new government, and I was a little nervous that they wouldn't let me access the records that I did."

He reached into the messenger's bag that sat on the ground next to him. "This," he explained, "is an old eastern Dwarvish storybook. It's written in the old language, so the librarian at Furnost had no use for it."

"How is of use to us?" Eragon objected. "None of us can read ancient Dwarvish!"

"Ah-ha!" Deaux grinned. "This is the reason why I'm here. I am one of the few people in Alagaësia who _can_, so I came just in case you ran into something like this. I have actually visited the Varden once before, when they were located under Farthen Dûr. I was taught both modern and ancient Dwarvish during my stay."

Everyone exchanged impressed looks.

"So you can tell us what's in this book?" Rymn said, nodding at the leather-bound volume in Deaux's lap.

"Yes,"

"For starters, where is it from, exactly?" Maddai asked. "Then go from there,"

Deaux frowned. "I don't know," he muttered, looking over the outside of the book, then opening both worn covers and glancing over the text on the inside. "It says here... this doesn't make any sense. Hmm..."

"So?" Murtagh said, impatient.

"It comes from a city called Mithrôs. From my studies, the city died out before Galbatorix came to rule, and the dwarves abandoned it because it was so far away from their capital."

Rya looked around at everyone as Deaux rattled on about the dwarves and the city of Mithrôs. Several of the knights had bored looks on their faces, and Tristan had taken to playing with the dirt. The only ones who were even slightly interested in this conversation were Maddai, Eragon, and herself. Murtagh and Kiddel were throwing small rocks at each other, and Rymn was busy stealing chunks of meat from his neighbor's bowl.

"Deaux," she interrupted as soon as she heard the librarian pause. "I think we should save the rest of this conversation for tomorrow. We need to get our rest."

Several members of the group nodded, and Deaux smiled, snapping the book shut. "Very well," he quipped.

Soon after, many of the knights were sleeping, and everyone else was preparing to follow their lead. Deaux sat by the dying fire, reading from a scroll. Both sorcerers were sitting a ways away, practicing simple magic with each other. Eragon, Murtagh, and Rya were down the shoreline with their dragons.

The knight from Furnost had bid farewell and started back north the way they had come, leaving the party to travel the Beors the next day.


End file.
